Ryujin-onsen Motoyu

龍神温泉元湯りゅうじんおんせんもとゆ

Public Bathhouse

Kansai·Wakayama

0739-79-0726 motoyu-ryujin.com

Day Use

Yes

07:00–21:00

¥800

Bathing & Water

Natural onsen water

Uses natural hot spring water

Outdoor BathYes

Open-air outdoor bath

Indoor BathYes

Enclosed indoor bathing area

Policies & Services

TattooYes

Allows entry with visible tattoos

Unverified

Rest AreaYes

Relaxation space for after bathing

龍神温泉（上の湯・下の湯）混合泉

Ryujin Onsen (Kami-no-yu and Shimo-no-yu blend)

Operated by · 龍神温泉協会

Mixed source

曹

Bicarbonate

Color: colorless and transparent
Taste: tasteless
Odor: odorless

Sodium Bicarbonate spring

pH 7.8AlkalineHot source · 43°CHigh silica

Composition fingerprint1.5 g/kg dissolved · Hypotonic

Na⁺96

HCO₃⁻93

◀ CationsAnions ▶

Sodium Na⁺: salt's cation — pairs with chloride to make the water salty.
Bicarbonate HCO₃⁻: "soda" — softens skin, leaves it smooth.

Known good for

Smooth skindry, rough skin
Aches & jointsstiff shoulders
Recoveryfatigue, stress

A sodium bicarbonate hot spring blending two wellheads (Kami-no-yu and Shimo-no-yu), hypotonic and alkaline, emerging at 43.3 °C. Weakly alkaline at pH 7.8 at the source and 8.0 in the lab, it sits squarely in Japan's beauty-water family. A generous 64 mg/kg of metasilicic acid leaves the kind of thin silica film that makes skin feel noticeably smoother afterwards — the trademark texture of Ryujin Onsen, long counted among the country's beauty springs.

Sampled at mixing tank·Analyzed May 25, 2016·和歌山県環境衛生研究センター·Cert no. 温泉第1071-2号

Explore the water

Views

Forest

Programs

About

The village bathhouse at the source of Ryujin Onsen, deep in the Kii mountains on the Hidaka river (日高川). Its water is a sodium bicarbonate spring, clear and odorless and noticeably slippery on the skin, which is why Ryujin gets counted alongside Yunokawa in Shimane and Kawanaka in Gunma as one of Japan's three bijin-no-yu (美人の湯), the beauty waters. There are two baths, a level down from the entrance: an indoor one lined with cypress cut in Ryujin village, and an open-air rock bath. The spring has roughly 1,300 years behind it, and the story goes that the monk Gyoki found it and that Kobo Daishi later opened the bath after a message from the dragon king, which is where the name Ryujin (龍神, dragon god) comes from. Plain, quiet, and the one bath in the village fed straight from the source.

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9 months ago

674. Ryujin-onsen Motoyu, Ryujin Onsen, Wakayama ★ Onsen for 800. Operating hours are 07:00-21:00. They stamp the Wakayama 88 Onsen book. They sell the Wakayama 12 Onsen stamp book (the place wasn't listed on the achievement site, but they sell the general stamp book). Photos of baths from the internet match. 1. Indoor area. In the evening it's fairly standard, but during daytime the bath really opens up - if the glass doesn't fog up in the morning, you'll have a view of trees and a bridge, creating a pleasant atmosphere. In the evening it was stuffy inside, but during the day breathing was fine. 1.1. Bath with clear water, temperature around 40. 1.2. Wooden bath with clear water, temperature around 41.5. 2. Outdoor stone bath. No view - blocked by a fence. Clear water, temperature around 41. During daytime it was a very pleasant visit - worth keeping in mind when visiting the village. 08.11.2025 09.11.2025

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Last updated July 30, 2026